During a very prestigious 1920's writing contest, the
cousins, Fred Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, created the character.
The cousins were looking for a Sherlock
Holmes and Watson all rolled into one character;
Ellery Queen was their answer. Ellery Queen was an author
who solved mysteries in his spare time and then wrote
about his harrowing adventures; his sidekick was his own
father, Richard Queen.

After the cousins won the contest, they proceeded to
write novels about Ellery Queen. It was during this time
when the media wanted a glimpse of Ellery Queen. Usually,
Dannay would disguise himself, shroud his face, and assume
the identity of Ellery Queen. The media bought the whole
get-up. The novels were then turned into a weekly old time radio show that followed the mystery-solving duo around on their
escapades. It was in 1932 when the cousins came up with
a series of novels with a character that was mentioned
in the past Ellery Queen books, Barnaby Ross. After the
publishing of the four novels, Lee and Dannay announced
that Barnaby Ross was actually Ellery Queen. The publishers
then went back and changed all the Barnaby Ross novels
into Ellery Queen novels. The publicity stunt was, in
turn, very effective.